The 33rd Portland International Film Festival will unspool February 11-28, 2010

The Northwest Film Center announces the 33rd Portland International Film Festival (PIFF), its annual cinematic foray of thought-provoking, engaging and entertaining works from around the globe. Over the last 33 years, the Festival has screened diverse and innovative films for thousands of people from throughout the Northwest. This year's Festival will showcase 117 compelling new films, from three dozen countries, including regional work, to an audience of more than 35,000.

The Festival opens Thursday, February 11, at the Newmark Theater in the Portland Center for the Performing Arts (PCPA) with the Italian film I Am Love, directed by Luca Guadagnino and starring Oscar-winner Tilda Swinton (Michael Clayton, Burn After Reading, The Deep End). The film's score is provided by minimalist musician John Adams. Following the screening is an opening night party in the lobby of the Newmark Theater.

One of the region's most culturally diverse arts events, PIFF illuminates the dark and rainy weeks of February with a broad mix of new international films, visiting artists, shorts, documentaries, and animation. Films include Oscar submissions, works by new directors, documentary views, and a showcase of new Pacific Rim cinema from China, South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, New Zealand and Australia.

Highly anticipated films include the winner of the Cannes Jury Prize, Andrea Arnold's Fish Tank (Great Britain); the international crime thriller The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Sweden); winner of the Cannes Jury Prize and Critics Prize, Police, Adjective (Romania); a Communist youth musical set in Moscow in 1955, Hipsters (Russia); director Peter Greenaway's Rembrandt's J'Accuse (Netherlands); and the newest film from French New Wave director Alain Resnais, Wild Grass (France).

Documentary film highlights include The Art of the Steal (U.S.), Don Argott's fascinating documentary on the struggle for control of the Barnes Foundation's valuable private art collection; For the Love of Movies (U.S.), directed by Boston Phoenix film critic Gerald Peary, including a post-film discussion with Peary and local film critics; and Videocracy (Sweden), a documentary that explores the mad world of Italian reality television.

Oscar contender highlights in the Festival include the winner of the Best Film, Director, and Screenplay awards at this year's Israeli Film Academy ceremony, Ajami (Israel), a collaboration between an Israeli filmmaker and a Palestinian filmmaker; and A Prophet (France), winner of the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes, about a 19-year-old Frenchman of Arab and Corsican descent who rises through the ranks of a Corsican gang. 

Portland highlights include the winner of the Grand Jury Prize for best U.S. documentary at the American Film Institute's Silver Docs Festival, October Country, from Portland directors Donal Mosher and Michael Palmieri; and the shorts program Shorts III: Made in Portland, highlighting work from local filmmakers such as Joanna Priestley, Vanessa Renwick, and Karl Lind. 

In addition to the Newmark Theater, this year PIFF films will be shown at the Regal Broadway Metroplex, Cinema 21 and at the Film Center's Whitsell Auditorium in the Portland Art Museum. Press screenings will start February 1st, screening two films per day for two weeks. This year's PIFF premiere sponsors include The Oregonian and Regal Cinemas. Major sponsors include the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, Wieden + Kennedy, LAIKA, Alaska Airlines, Blue Heron Paper, Stella Artois and Firesteed Winery.

The Northwest Film Center is a regional media arts resource and service organization founded to encourage the study, appreciation, and utilization of the moving image arts, foster their artistic and professional excellence, and help create a climate in which they flourish. In addition to the Portland International Film Festival, the Center produces the annual Northwest Film & Video Festival and a variety of year-round film and video exhibition, educational and informative programs serving the residents of Oregon and the Northwest region. 

Festival Screening Locations:

Regal Broadway Metroplex, 1000 SW Broadway

Newmark Theatre, 1111 SW Broadway

Cinema 21, 616 NW 21st Avenue

NW Film Center, Whitsell Auditorium-Portland Art Museum, 1219 SW Park Avenue

Festival Ticket Outlet:

Mark Building, Portland Art Museum, 1119 SW Park Avenue

Opens February 3 - Daily from 12-6 pm

Advance tickets by phone at (503) 276-4310

Advance tickets online @ http://www.nwfilm.org/

Admission Prices: 

$10 General, $9 Portland Art Museum Members, $7 Silver Screen Friends

Opening Night Film and Party: $25 general, $20 Silver Screen Friends and Portland Art Museum members

Various Festival Passes available

Festival Schedule:

The full PIFF Program is available online February 3 at http://www.nwfilm.org/